In a packet data network, the available bandwidth and latency may vary over time. For this reason, the quality of a voice telephony, video conference, or other real time communication may also vary over time. Because variations in communication quality can interfere with or prevent a successful communication, it would be desirable to provide an indication of the available communication quality before a communication session is established.
Internet protocol telephones that provide an indication of call quality while a call is in progress are available. In general, such a telephone analyzes the stream of network packets received as part of an ongoing communication, and displays to the user an indication of the existing call quality. However, such prior art devices only provide an indication of call quality while a call is in progress.
Systems that monitor network voice and video session quality are available. In particular, such systems monitor in-progress communications and provide information to network administrators that allows administrators to identify sources of network quality degradation. However, such systems are incapable of providing a predicted communication channel quality to a user prior to the initiation of a communication session.
In order to obtain a high quality communication link, quality of service (QoS) protocols have been developed. Where available, data packets marked with high quality of service levels may obtain preferential treatment from network resources. However, as can be appreciated, where available resources are insufficient, even communications using data packets marked for preferential treatment can be of poor quality. In addition, network providers may charge premium rates for delivering data packets marked to receive high quality of service levels. Therefore, quality of service protocols do not necessarily provide required communication quality, and the use of high quality of service of levels can result in increased communication costs.